Struggling to switch off from work? Try a shut-down ritual...
Let’s be honest: How many of you struggle to switch off from work when you’re meant to be engaging in downtime? Let’s see where you fit in to these statistics:
In a study commissioned by The Myers-Briggs Company, a third of workers find it difficult to “switch off” from work in their personal time.
28% of these workers said they find it difficult to mentally switch off from their jobs because of access to work emails and smartphones.
26% said the expectation to be ‘always on’ interferes with their personal life.
20% of people said being constantly connected to work made them feel mentally exhausted.
Source: business psychologists Nikhita Blackburn and Helen Rayner present at British Psychological Society’s annual conference in 2019
If you are a someone who is ‘always on’ when it comes to your work life, the study had three recommendations to protect employee wellbeing:
Switch off - Find ways to mentally switch off from work, emails, social media and technology on a regular basis.
Set boundaries - Set boundaries on technology use with yourself to avoid unhelpful habits.
Consider and communicate with others - Set boundaries with others and communicate your availability.
In light of the first recommendation to ‘switch off’ I’d like to share something that works for me and it’s called a shut-down ritual.
What is a shut down ritual?
A shutdown ritual is a series of actions that you perform at the end of each work day to finalise your day and signify that your work day is done. Once the shutdown ritual is complete, work is done, allowing you to be fully present with your family, partner, or self and engage fully in your downtime (something that is essential for our wellbeing). After it’s complete, it allows us to ‘park’ our work for the day. Then we go into our downtime feeling satisfied that our work day is done. If you do it right, you won't think about work, you won't worry about work, and you won't be tempted to check your email or mentally reply conversations with your colleagues or boss.
Well, that’s the theory! But studies show that if you want to be your most productive self, you need to take a complete break until the next work day.
I have to be honest, until recently I didn’t have a shut-down ritual. For me, it seemed more productive to squeeze every single moment out of my work time without worrying too much about a series of steps i need to take to differentiate between work time and personal time. During lockdown, I thought I’d give it a try and I’m happy to report that it did have an impact. I’m not saying that I’m never tempted to glance at my work emails in the evening, scroll social media for ‘inspiration’, share something interesting I’ve read on LinkedIn or text a client. I still feel tempted to do all of these things. But increasingly, I’m feeling more confident to clearly separate my work-time and my downtime, and it’s empowering to insert these boundaries into my day. On the whole, I’m feeling much better for it! Power to the shut-down!
What do I do during my shut-down ritual? Here are my steps…
First, I update my to-do list for that day and spend a few moments reflecting on how the work day went… these are some of the questions I ask myself: did I work productively today? What were my achievements? Did anything distract me that I need to work on the following day? Next I check in with my body: How do I physically feel?
I look at my calendar to check I’m not forgetting about any deadlines looming or what I’ve got coming up later that week. With this in mind, I prioritise what needs to be done tomorrow…
I write my to-do list or work plan for the next day (it’s very brief with up to 5 tasks).
TIDY UP MY DIGITAL SPACE: Then I delete any screenshots or file away/discard any documents on my desktop before shutting down my computer. I’m sure you’re not surprised to hear that I like to operate a clear desktop policy!
CLEAR DESK POLICY: I put all of my work items back in their designated place, close my up my desk (it’s a bureau desk so I can literally shut away my desk), close the office window and change the location of my office chair, so the room no longer looks like an office.
This is the cheesy part… I tell myself ‘OK, my work is done. I’ve done as much as I could today and I’m proud of my efforts. Now I’m entering my personal time, there’s nothing more that can be done in work today. See you in the morning work!’ I warned you it’s cheesy.
Then I leave the office space for the evening.
The whole process takes 10-15 minutes. If you’re thinking ‘I don’t have time for this at the end of every workday’, you’re not alone, I used to think that too. It took me about a week of getting used to operating my shut-down ritual on a daily basis. The truth is, I now look forward to that time because it allows me to fully offload any potential work commitments that may creep up on me during the evening, threatening to distract me and derail my downtime. Yes, there are always going to be jobs from my workday that are left incomplete but my shut-down ritual allows me to get the jobs off my mind. And this makes all the difference.
My shut-down ritual helps me enjoy guilt-free downtime
When it’s personal time, I make sure I take my personal time to recharge, guilt-free. This means no work-related activities (texting clients, scrolling linkedIn and social media platforms, reading work articles, searching the internet for ‘research’). This is essential for my wellbeing. Engaging in these activities during my downtime (which I’ll admit I used to do when I first started my business) leave me dangerously close to resembling my 60 hour working week as a teacher. And there’s no way I’m going back there!
If you’re someone who struggles to switch-off, a shut-down ritual can be an empowering first step to making sure you take time for you, doing whatever helps you unwind.
Did you find this blog post insightful? Do you already operate a shut-down ritual to switch off from work? Or are you planning on making this a part of your workday? Let me know in the comments…